The Beginnings
by berylle
Summary: The class is headed off for a weekend trip to a haunted park. Mikan already promised Natsume that she'd listen to anything that he says, but will she hold true to that? A lovely tale of love & comedy, and pursuit of desires. RATED T for later chapters. ;D
1. Chapter 1

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The setting is around the end of the anime, and chapter 29 in the anime

The setting is around the end of the anime, and chapter 29 in the anime. I didn't really want to start in the middle of Mikan and Natsume's relationship, because I find the cold Natsume much more interesting than the oh-so-protective one.

Anyways, have fun reading!

by the way, I DO NOT OWN GAKUEN ALICE, OR IT'S CHARACTERS. I merely use them as pawns in my own imagination. 3

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"A class trip? Kyaaa!" Mikan's tone took on an even shriller note than normal, drawing exasperated glances from the people around her.

It was the middle of class, and the sensei had just announced that there would be a class trip to the national park. This of course, drew excited whispers, for this was the long awaited trip. According to some of the upperclassmen, Misura Park was haunted.

In Mikan's head she was imaging all of the fun things the class would do together. She glanced to the side towards Natsume, but couldn't read his expression due to the manga book that was placed over his face. Tempted to knock it off to ask him what he thought of Misura Park, she refrained. Perhaps this was due to the survival instinct of 'don't piss off the violent boy,' or that he looked rather peaceful resting, she wasn't sure.

After the announcement of the upcoming trip, class downgraded into several whispered discussions. Soon no one was paying the slightest attention to the lesson and having their own side conversations. Mikan had gotten up to go sit by her best friend Hotaru. Hotaru didn't have the time to listen to Mikan, who was talking incessantly, so Hotaru slipped away without her friend's notice.

_ Riiinggg!_ The bell rang to dismiss all of the students. Mikan was too excited to notice, and she continued to chatter away to now absent Hotaru about what she would be bringing along with her. "Oh…And I'll _have_ to bring along that cute little swimsuit that I bought…" Her voice trailed off suddenly when she was hit off the head with a rolled up piece of paper.

"Baka, everyone's already left." Natsume's tone was as cold as normal.

"I'm a baka?" Mikan raised her hand to take a whack at him in retaliation. "No, I think _you're_ the idiot."

Natsume took one look at her annoyed expression and raised fist, and smirked. Without another word, he strolled out of the room, leaving an annoyed Mikan in his wake.

The brunette sat there for a few minutes muttering about how horrible everyone was for leaving her alone and packing up her bag. Finally she emerged from the room with a sour expression. To her surprise Ruka-pyon was there.

"Hi Mikan." Ruka smiled with a tinge of embarrassment. "I thought I'd… uhm, wait for you."

Mikan smiled brightly, her bad mood dispersing rather quickly. "That was so nice of you, Ruka-pyon." Reaching over, she grasped his arm. Cheeks flushed, Ruka smiled back at her and the two of them ambled down the hall way together.

Unbeknownst to them, Natsume was just several feet away from them, standing behind a pillar. His mouth was pursed into a frown, and his eyes glittered with jealousy towards his friend Ruka. How_ dare_ Ruka touch Mikan, even so casually.

…

The sun was going down, and most of the students had already gotten to their dorm rooms. Mikan was rushing along the pathway after visiting her Sempai. Rather ungracefully, Mikan stumbled over an uneven part in the road. Expecting to hit the ground painfully, she curled up her limbs and hoped that she might land in the softer grass. To her surprise, someone was there to catch her.

Well, not maybe _catch_, per say. But there was someone there to soften her landing. Mikan blinked several times and tried to catch her breath. At the sound of a voice, she started. It was Natsume's voice. "Get the hell _off_ me, you obnoxious girl."

"Oh, I'm _so _sorry, Natsume." The silly girl had forgotten her previous argument with this boy.

Truth be told, Natsume didn't mind that Mikan Sakura was on top of him. Though he wouldn't admit it, he liked being close to her. "Next time look before you run." Natsume stood up awkwardly and rubbed his spine. Wincing slightly, he overplayed his fall with a pretend injury. "Look what you've done now; I think you must have sprained my back."

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" Her voice was really sounding panicked, and Natsume loved every moment of it.

"You should have thought about it before you landed on me." He replied in slighted tones. A hand on his hip, Natsume was the picture of exasperation. He pretended to wince again. "So, now that you've injured me, how are you going to make it up to me?" On purpose he let his voice crack, and bent over to sit down on the grass.

"I'm sorry! I'll do anything to help you! Just don't be mad at me!" Her eyes looked a little misty, and her expression was just as panicked as her tone.

"Anything?" The boy quirked a brow at her in an amused fashion. "You may regret saying that…"

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END NOTES: tell me if you think I should continue, the story heads in the direction of Mikan and her classmates going on that trip where some bad things might happen. (Bad? If you thought that I meant ecchi things, then you are _very_ naughty. But maybe I did mean that... Who knows. :D)

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	2. Chapter 2

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AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Hi everyone!

I've decided that i'm going to be updating this story every day. ;

But please don't kill me if i accidently miss a day or something. I have lots of work that i need to do often.

Anyways, the story seems to be prgressing well. Natsume is getting more and more jealous of Ruka-pyon, and Mikan is becoming more and more confused. ;D

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It was already late morning when Mikan finally got out of bed on the day of the trip. Her friends had been calling for her for the past hour, and yet she still couldn't seem to get up. _Oh well, _she thought, _we don't leave until 12:30 anyways. _Dressing quickly, the brunette girl rushed out of her room to join her friends in the cafeteria.

"Hotaru! Good morning! What are you having for breakfast?" Without even asking, Mikan took a fork and began sampling some of her friend's food.

The short haired girl watched for several seconds as Mikan ate then pulled out one of her baka-guns to punch the brunette with. _BAKA! BAKA! BAKA!_ Mikan's fork clattered to the floor, and she began crying loudly.

"Don't eat my breakfast." Hotaru scolded Mikan coolly as she walked towards the front of the room to get another carton of orange juice. "Get your own."

"But Hotaruuuuu." Mikan was following Hotaru like a lost puppy dog, her eyes swimming with tears.

"Hey there, scavenger." Natsume was thrown into the mix, with his usual frown.

"I'm _not_ a scavenger!"

"You sure seem like one." Smirking at her, Natsume gave her a pat on the head. "Bye now."

Fuming, Mikan returned to her seat. Hotaru was long gone, and she was sitting there alone. _I'm bored, I'm bored, I'm bored. What time does the bus leave, anyways?_ Racking her head, she couldn't remember it for the life of her.

"Hello, Mikan." Ruka was there, with a silly smile on his face.

Without thinking, Mikan replied to him. "I like your greetings better than Natsume's." Smiling, she continued. "Anyways, what time does the bus leave today?"

Confused about the first part of her reply, Ruka just told her the time.

"Want to sit together, Ruka-pyon? Hotaru already told me that she doesn't have time to sit with me. She wants to work on her invention, or something."

"You really want to sit with me?" Ruka flushed slightly. "I'd love to sit with you, Mikan."

"Okay, it's settled." Her tone was decisive. "You and I are seatmates." 3

…

The luggage was all loaded onto the bus, and it was almost time for everyone to board. Everyone was so excited to finally be going.

"Who're you sitting with, Mikan?" Perm figured that Mikan would be sitting with someone like Hotaru.

"Me and Ruka are sitting together!" Mikan announced proudly.

Natsume glanced up quickly. What? Why were they sitting together? _He _should be the one sitting with Mikan. The boy wandered up to Ruka, who had just gotten to the scene. "You're not going to sit with Mikan today, Ruka. Sorry."

With that, he walked over to Mikan and grabbed her arm. "You're going to sit with me." When she protested, he just smirked at her. "You said you would do _anything_ for me. This is just the start of anything."

"WAAHHH." She took her seat next to him. "Why do you want to sit next to me anyways. You are just going to bully me the entire way."

"Shuddup."

"I don't want to sit next to youu."

"Shuddup."

"I want to sit next to Rukaaaa." Mikan was whining now.

"What's so different about me and him anyways."

"Well, Ruka is really, really nice and sweet to me. And you're just a mean ol' pervert that likes to tease me." Mikan had already begun to talk and it was pointless to try and stop her. "He always talks to me, even if I'm annoying."

"Well, isn't that sweet?" Natsume's voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Mikan, not catching his bitterness, kept plowing through. "Oh! And he's always really polite, unlike _some_ people around here."

At this moment, Natsume was highly pissed off. He didn't want to hear any more from Mikan about Ruka (his rival) and yet she kept spouting it off. "Will you PLEASE stop chattering? I've got a headache!"

Mikan merely pouted. "Well, you shouldn't have sat next to me, then."

_ Good point_, thought a disgruntled Natsume.

...

…

"We're here!"

The excited voices rose into a spiral of shouts and screams as the students exited the bus. Mikan was one of the first students off, calling out to all her friends. "How was the bus ride?"

Perhaps this question was only posed because she wished to complain about how horrible Natsume had been. For some reason, he kept telling her not to talk about Ruka. Who knows what that was about…

There was Ruka now! Mikan quickly nudged all of Natsume's annoying orders from her brain and wandered over to where Ruka was.

"I'm so sorry that I couldn't sit with you." She pouted. "Natsume's a real jerk for kidnapping me like that."

"It's fine." Ruka looked rather uneasy. His gaze was over Mikan's shoulder a few feet away. Natsume had fixed a good hard stare at the back of Mikan's head. He had obviously heard what she had said, since Mikan's normal tone was rather loud.

"What's wrong?" MIkan looked worried for a moment.

"Natsume doesn't look too happy right now."

Mikan glanced over at him, and watched him amble forwards with that scary expression on his face.

"I though you were going to _listen_ to me." He hissed in her ear as he passed her. Coming to stand next to Ruka, the two of them trudged off, leaving a very confused brunette girl.

_ What? Why would Natsume care if I talk to Ruka or not. Natsume's just a big pervert who likes to order me around._ She pouted for a few more moments, then ran off in search of her friends.

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END NOTE:

Next story will have some more _interesting_ interactions between Natsume and Mikan. I promise. ;D

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